


her fingers between yours are little anchors

by jessicawhitly



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Gen, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 17:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20821400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessicawhitly/pseuds/jessicawhitly
Summary: The thing is- she never set out to be an aunt to Tony Stark’s kid.





	her fingers between yours are little anchors

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be a birthday gift to Sab, but it is now considerably late. I'm sad the MCU never delivered on the Carol/Tony dynamic from the comics because they're my faves, so I'm here with some Aunt Carol fic! The Carol/Rhodey is more background as this is a Carol&Morgan centric fic, but I love 'em so I had to include at least a little. I hope you enjoy! Title is from an inskinned poem.

The thing is- she never set out to be an aunt to Tony Stark’s kid.

Rhodey had mentioned he was going to visit Morgan after a particularly rough few weeks of long missions and little down time, and Carol had offered to go with him. The look of pleasant surprise that had flitted across his face was enough to warm the pit of her stomach briefly, and before long they’d been mid-flight, racing each other towards the cabin by the lake.

A brunette head is peeking out the door when they land, and the lines around Rhodey’s mouth disappear when he smiles as he kneels down, suit working itself off his body.

“Uncle Rhodey!” Morgan Stark yells as she careens into him, skinny arms around his neck and hair in his face. He laughs, holding her tightly against him, and Carol’s heart squeezes just a touch.

Inquisitive dark eyes look up at her when the two of them part, and she kneels so she’s level with the little girl.

“Do you remember me?” Carol asks, tilting her head slightly- Morgan mirrors the motion, and nods.

“You came when we said bye to Daddy,” she answers, and Carol nods.

“I’m Carol,” she reintroduces herself, and the little girl smiles shyly.

“’m Morgan,” she half-mumbles, hands near her mouth, and Rhodey squeezes her, lifting her onto his hip as he stands.

“Mom inside?” he asks as they start to walk, and Morgan nods, pushing her hair back.

“We’re having cheeseburgers!”

“And it’s a good thing I made more than two,” Pepper says as they shut the door behind them, a soft smile on her face. Morgan squirms down to the floor as Rhodey moves to kiss Pepper’s cheek, squeezing her upper arm lightly. “Hello, Carol. It’s nice to see you again.”

“Mrs. Stark,” Carol says, nodding her head, and Pepper gives a soft snort.

“Just Pepper’s fine, unless you’d like me to start calling you Captain Danvers,” the blonde lifts an eyebrow, and Carol shakes her head, lips pursed in amusement. Rhodey flicks his eyes between the two of them before he shakes his own head, and goes to help set the table.

Carol takes the drink she’s handed and sits back- Rhodey flows seamlessly with Pepper and Morgan, already an easy part of their family, and she watches from her seat with quiet amusement.

“I like your hair,” she’s pulled from her thoughts by Morgan climbing up next to her on the sofa, and Carol smiles, touching the blonde locks that were starting to grow unruly the longer she went without trimming them.

“Thanks. I think I like it short,” she replies, and reaches out to touch the tiny red bow adorning Morgan’s dark hair. “I like your bow.”

“Thanks. Mommy put it in today,” Morgan tells her, and Carol’s smile widens. “Daddy used to do my hair a lot. He knew all the braids.”

“You had a pretty awesome dad, huh?” she says, and Morgan nods, her smile a little sad.

“I’m glad you came to dinner. Uncle Rhodey smiles a lot more around you,” the observation makes Carol’s lips twitch, and her eyes find Rhodey across the room, something welling in her chest as she watched him make Pepper laugh.

“I think that’s you, not me kid,” she replies, and Morgan just giggles, sliding off the couch and tugging on Carol’s hand.

“Come on, I want to show you my room.”

_

She’s out on patrol with Sam when she gets the call, and suddenly the screen is dominated by dark eyes and folded arms and a big frown when she accepts it.

“You didn’t come!” Morgan Stark cries, nearly stamping a foot, and Carol isn’t above admitting she nearly falls out of the sky in shock.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa- what’s up, kid?” she asks, righting herself and signaling to Sam she needed a minute. He nodded, waving her off, and she lands on a rooftop, giving Morgan her full attention.

“You didn’t come with Uncle Rhodey this weekend!” there’s a full pout on the kid’s face now, and Carol remembers this from Monica’s childhood, sending a stab of nostalgia through her.

“Someone’s gotta keep the city safe,” she lifts an eyebrow, and Morgan huffs, but one corner of her mouth begins to lift. “Tell you what- I’ll see if I can get up there tonight, and we can have breakfast together tomorrow morning, okay?”

“Yay!” Morgan cheers, and Carol grins. Rhodey appears behind the young girl, a smile of his own curving his mouth and for a moment he looks so damn good she’s speechless.

“Did I hear we’ll be seeing you tonight?” he asks, and her grin turns to a smirk.

“If you stay up late enough,” she teases, and he cocks his head, lifting an eyebrow as interest fills his expression. “See ya in a bit, James.”

She watches his eyes widen just as she ends the call, and can’t help but let out a soft laugh to herself before she launches herself back into the air, catching back up with Sam.

“Hey- I’m gonna head up to the Stark cabin tonight after this sweep of the city since it’s quiet,” she tells him, and Sam nods, a grin spreading over his face. She arcs an eyebrow, questioning. “What’s the dumb look on your face for?”

“Oh nothing. Barnes just owes me a hundred bucks,” he replies, amusement in his voice, and Carol rolls her eyes.

“For what?”

“Oh, because you and Rhodey are totally doing it and think the rest of us don’t know,” he answers, and it takes everything in Carol not to shove him out of the sky.

“Fuck off, Wilson,” is all she says as she flips him off, and then speeds up, heading back towards the base so she can pack a bag.

The flight to the cabin is long, and Carol is tired by the time she touches down, but Rhodey is opening the door by the time she walks up the steps, and everything feels lighter when he smiles. His hand is warm when he smooths the windswept hair from her forehead, palm pressing to her jaw, and she leans into the touch with a soft smile, eyes slipping closed.

In the morning, Morgan finds her making waffles in the kitchen, and crashes into her, face buried in her waist and a beaming grin on her face.

“I missed you,” she mumbles into the fabric of her shirt, and Carol bends, kissing the top of her head.

“Missed you too, kid,” she whispers, tapping her cheek before she straightens back up. “Now, do you want strawberries or blueberries on your waffles?”

“Both!” is the excited reply she gets, and Carol grins, plating one of the finished waffles and placing it before the young girl.

“Smart girl.”

_

“Are you and Uncle Rhodey gonna get married?”

Carol nearly chokes on the coffee she’s drinking, looking Morgan who’s sitting across from her and swinging her feet innocently. Pepper and Morgan were in town for the weekend, and Carol had offered to take Morgan out for lunch while Pepper took care of some Stark Industry business; Rhodey was meeting them momentarily, after he finished with Wilson and Barnes.

“Why do you ask?” Carol nonanswers, and Morgan takes another bite of her cookie.

“Because when he first brought you, your hair was short. Now it’s longer than your shoulders,” Morgan tells her, and Carol raises an eyebrow. “That’s a really long time. And then I can call you Aunt Carol. Because he’s Uncle Rhodey.”

Carol lets out a laugh at that, sitting forward until her elbows rest against the table.

“We don’t have to be married for you to call me Aunt Carol, kid,” she tells her, and Morgan’s eyes grow wide.

“Really?” she asks, and Carol nods, face softening.

“Yeah, kid,” she replies, reaching over to touch her cheek gently, and Morgan beams, her whole tiny face lighting up and tugging at Carol’s heart.

“I still think Uncle Rhodey should ask you to marry him,” Morgan tells her, and Carol laughs, head tilting backwards.

“Maybe I’ll ask _him_,” she teases, and Morgan giggled, hands covering her mouth as their heads bent together over the table.

“Ask me what?” Rhodey’s voice pulls them apart, and he drops a kiss to Morgan’s head before settling beside Carol and wrapping an arm around her shoulders, lips pressing to her cheek.

“That is for us to know and you to never find out,” she answers, and he rolls his eyes, lips curled in amusement. Morgan giggles from behind her hands, eyes shining, and Carol winks at her.

“You two are terrible together. Absolutely terrible. I need at least two chocolate chip cookies to deal with you both.”

_

“Morgan? Everything okay?” Carol sits up, pulling the sheet higher as she holds the phone to her ear and flicks the bedside light on.

“Will you tell me a bedtime story, Aunt Carol?” the little, teary voice asks her, and her shoulders soften, the fear that something had happened leaking out of her. Rhodey sits up next to her, kissing her shoulder sleepily, and she pats his chest until he lays back down.

“What’re you in the mood for tonight, kid?” she asks, settling back against the pillows and resting her free hand against Rhodey’s head after he turns his face into her hip, breath warm against her skin.

“Will you tell me about my dad?” Morgan’s question is soft, and Carol bites her lip. After a moment she takes a breath, and presses the phone a little closer to her ear.

“Once, before you were born, your dad and I took a trip,” she starts, just listening to Morgan breathe on the other end of the line. “He wanted to show me some things- some Avengers things, just the two of us. Help me adjust to being one of them.”

Fondness washes over her at the memory- the rock station he’d picked, the terrible gas station cheeseburgers they’d gotten, and the bittersweet way Tony had spoken about the Avengers. She hadn’t thought about the trip in years, but it feels good to tell his daughter about it.

“You know- he used to call me Spaceface,” that pulls a sleepy, tear-soaked giggle out of Morgan, and Carol’s lips twitch.

“That’s funny,” Morgan murmurs, and Carol hums.

“Yeah. Your dad was pretty funny,” Carol tells her, and it goes quiet for another few moments.

“I miss him,” Morgan whispers, and Carol frowns.

“I know, sweetheart. We all do,” she murmurs back. “Why don’t Rhodey and I come up there this week and visit? How does that sound?”

“Okay,” is the tiny response she gets, and her heart twists.

“Get some sleep, kid, okay?”

“Okay, Aunt Carol. Love you,” Morgan says softly, and Carol blinks against the sudden burn in her eyes.

“Love you too, kid.”

She hangs up the phone, setting it on the bedside table and pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes briefly, nearly jumping at Rhodey’s quiet voice.

“That your first I love you from the kid?” he asks, and Carol huffs out a breath, sliding down into the bed until she can bury her face between his shoulder blades. “Softie.”

“Shut up, Rhodes,” she mutters, and he laughs, the sound vibrating in his chest. “Not even four feet tall and she has me wrapped around her fingers like putty.”

“Those Stark-Potts genes, man,” Rhodey tells her, and Carol laughs, pressing her cheek against his back. “We bringing dinner when we fly up?”

“Pepper did say she was missing good Chinese last time we were there.”

“Kung pow chicken it is.”

_

“AUNT CAROL!”

She catches Morgan just as she launches herself off the stairs, and pushes them a few feet up in the air, eliciting a shriek of laughter from the girl as they hover. Thin arms tighten around her neck, and dark eyes shimmer happily as they scan her face.

“Miss me, kid?” she asks, and hair spills into her face as Morgan nods eagerly.

“Did you bring Uncle Rhodey?” she asks, and Carol smirks, looking over her shoulder. In the distance, Rhodey is a blur, and Morgan’s beam grows.

“Danvers, can you put my kid on the ground, please?” she looks down at Pepper’s voice, finding the blonde standing on the bottom step with her hands on her hips, one slim eyebrow arched.

“Sorry, Pep. Too excited to stay at sea level,” Carol tells her, and interest fills the other woman’s face.

“Oh?” Pepper asks, and at just that moment, Morgan takes hold of Carol’s hand.

“Did Uncle Rhodey ask you to marry him?!” she lifts Carol’s left hand, examining the new ring on her fourth finger, and Pepper’s hands lift to cover her face just as Rhodey lands in the yard, helmet lifting away to reveal his face. His expression is a mix of smug and happy and sheer delight, and Pepper’s throwing her arms around him the moment he’s within reach.

“He beat me to it,” Carol winks at Morgan, and the little girl hugs her tightly, her head now above her waist, having shot up like a weed upon turning 8. Pepper hugs Carol as Morgan launches herself at Rhodey, and the older woman’s embrace is warm and tight.

“Welcome to the family- well, officially,” she says, pulling back. “Morgan adopted you a long time ago.”

That makes Carol grin, and she squeezes Pepper’s shoulders tightly; Morgan beams at her from her place on Rhodey’s hip, arms around his neck. Three years ago, she’d never meant for this to be her place; never meant to mean so much to Tony Stark’s daughter. But as Morgan smiled at her, and launched into a story about her day, Carol could safely say there was nowhere she’d rather be.

Aunt Carol was here to stay.


End file.
